Police in the southwestern Cauca department captured a record 20 tons of marijuana belonging to the FARC, authorities said Wednesday.
Thanks to the bust, agents have now effectively dismantled the FARC’s central financial hub in the Cauca region, said General Gustavo Adolfo Ricaurte, who heads Colombia’s southwestern police force. The seized marijuana has an estimated value of $2.5 million.
“This was the FARC’s financial center, where they cultivated marijuana, pressed and exported it,” said Ricaurte.
Security forces are increasingly clashing with FARC fighters in the Cauca department. Another suspected FARC attack on Wednesday left two civilians dead, and was reportedly in response to the military’s seizures of illicit drugs and arms. Three separate FARC attacks during the weekend left at least twelve civilians injured.
Police seized 6.5 tons of marijuana in transit through Valle del Cauca in early February, but it is not known whether that shipment was also part of an illicit FARC operation.
The FARC’s 30th Front is known to actively traffic drugs in Cauca and is believed to work with the Tijuana cartel in Mexico.